AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I suppose one way or another, this night’s events will lead me to the Conciergerie. I’ll go with you now.”
“And free the abbé?”
“If I can.”
“You had better pray you can.” She blew out the flame in the lamp and rapped on the roof of the carriage again. A moment later it turned in the direction of the prison.
Alex sat back, increasing the distance between her and the revolutionary. This was the part of the mission she most loved and most hated. The anticipation of success made her giddy, but the possibility that all could go wrong terrified her. Her part in all of this was done for the moment. She would wait in the carriage, as though backstage, until Chevalier and the abbé arrived. Then she and Hastings would accompany the abbé out of the city and Hastings would see him safely to England.
Chevalier would have to find his own way home, which was a small risk to him as, if he was found breaking the curfew, he could always claim it was on business for the Convention or Robespierre.
If all went as planned, she would be sleeping in the safe house by dawn. But all seldom went as planned, and she did not trust Chevalier. One word against them and she would find herself in the Conciergerie followed by an appointment with Madame Guillotine.
It would be small comfort, lying in an unmarked grave, that the Pimpernel made sure the Committee of Public Safety knew about Chevalier’s treachery and sentenced him to die as well. She would rather live than die to be avenged.
But her future was in Chevalier’s hands now, and there was little she could do about it. Hastings and Dewhurst, who was driving the coach, were at risk as well, but she knew neither of them had ever shied away from danger, and she would not either.
“Why must he go free?” Chevalier asked, startling her with the sound of his voice in the silence.
“Who? The abbé?”
“Yes. If I am to free him, I want to know why. There are hundreds of prisoners in the Conciergerie. What makes this man so special?”
She didn’t know. The Pimpernel rarely told them his reasons for rescuing prisoners. The few times the information had been pertinent, she’d been made to understand that the prisoner was innocent or had family who had fled to England or Austria and had begged for the safe return of their loved one.
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “Like you, it is not my job to ask questions but to follow orders.”
“And what if this abbé is an enemy of the revolution? What if he is justly imprisoned?”
“He is a man of God,” she said, hearing the incredulity in her voice. “What crime could he have committed?”
“Speaking out against the revolution, for one.”
She curled her lip in disgust at his words. “That can hardly be counted a crime when the revolution has taken the very thing he has given his life to and trampled all over it. I am not a pious woman, Chevalier, but even I know the heresy of declaring God dead.”
“And you think God approves of the acts of greed and privilege the men and women who claim to serve him perpetrate? The people starve while the bishops and the priests grow fat.”
“And those same people are still starving under the Cult of the Supreme Being, but now they have no hospitals for the sick or even the sanctuary of a monastery when traveling.”
“I don’t want to argue politics,” he said. “I asked about the Abbé Bertrand.”
“I don’t know anything about him other than he is to be rescued,” she said. “You will have to take my word that he is worthy.”
“Your word? The word of a woman who is blackmailing me.”
“For a good reason,” she pointed out. “I know you aren’t the unquestioning patriot you pretend to be. This is your chance to do something good and right. You became a revolutionary to help your country and your people. Tonight you can help the abbé.”
The carriage stopped, and she prayed she had said enough to convince him. If not, the next part of her mission would be very short indeed.
They sat in the carriage for a long moment, Alex holding her breath, waiting for Chevalier to move. When he did so, he took her hand and pulled her close. “This is far from over.” He shocked her by giving her a quick hard kiss on the lips and then opening the carriage door and stepping outside.
Before the door closed again, she saw the Conciergerie, a lone man in black approaching it with papers tucked under his arm.
She couldn’t help but think that her fate—for better or worse—was in his hands.
It seemed hours passed while she waited in the carriage. Hastings walked the horses in a narrow lane out of sight of the Conciergerie, but there was still the danger of discovery. If the guard ventured this way or one of the people living in the buildings on either side of the alley reported them for being out after curfew, they might be arrested. Dewhurst had gone to watch the Conciergerie in order to direct Chevalier if and when he emerged with the abbé, but as the time passed, Alex began to fear Chevalier would not return and they’d been betrayed.
Outside she could hear Hastings’s steady footsteps as he walked the horses to the end of the lane, turned them, and walked them back again. Half a dozen times she reached for the window, intent upon lowering it and telling Hastings to leave Chevalier, collect Dewhurst, and run.
